Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues

Unlike a classroom where the parameters of discussion are dictated by syllabi and the goals are purely academic, the Georgetown University Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues U.S.-China Student-to-Student Dialogue program is an opportunity to sit with one’s peers and have a conversation. Dialogue affords us the latitude to listen without having to provide a response, assume best intent from our dialogue partners, and share our thoughts through the lens of experience rather than empirical and academic rhetoric. After all, it is our experiences, perhaps even time spent in each other’s home countries and institutions of higher learning, that brought us to this field in the first place. Speaking for myself, the moments I have spent in China and in classrooms in Beijing shaped my ambitions, cementing my interest in the field of international affairs and global development. 

This year, the topic our cohort is exploring is the role that Sino-U.S. relations plays in global development, the potential it has to further worldwide prosperity, or the risks that great power conflict pose to the well-being of all nations. China’s emergence onto the global stage in the last 20 years has been characterized by the speed of its growth, the sophistication of its military, and the resilience of the Communist Party apparatus. But perhaps the greatest indicator of China’s power is the economic interdependence it shares with the world’s largest and smallest economies. Beijing has established itself as the single largest source of international development finance in the world, with annual financial commitments hovering around $80 billion. The scale of this financing has garnered a high degree of visibility, prompting skepticism by traditional lending institutions and their donor countries. As of this writing, China far outspends the United States on a per project basis, with the median monetary value of a Chinese debt-financed project 25 times larger than a U.S.-financed one. China is also offering the most affordable financing terms, and for governments that are more resource constrained, it crowds out competitors that may have interest in financing the same project. Its role as an “emerging donor” has provoked questions about whether China is seeking to reshape the norms that have long dictated the terms of development. 

This is a topic that eludes empirical assessments of right and wrong: what counts as good governance? What metrics should we apply to measuring the integrity of institutions or the intent of a donor if the net outcomes of foreign assistance result in accelerated economic activity or increased access to public services? Debates persist as to whether increased Chinese aid is an influence-seeking operation, with officials keen on trapping poorer countries in cycles of debt in order to seize high-value assets, or whether it is the natural evolution of an increasingly prosperous and geopolitically connected country. In small groups of four composed of a representative from each participating university (Georgetown University, University of California San Diego, Peking University, and Fudan University), we examined the role of great powers in addressing global climate change: the role that China seeks to play in reforming the global development agenda, whether it makes a persuasive case as the voice of the Global South, and how we define a more equitable, safe, and prosperous world. I am excited to continue these conversations, building trust and camaraderie with my dialogue partners to bring our conversations out of the abstract.

Veronica Dickson La Rotta (G'24) is a second-year graduate student studying global human development at the Walsh School of Foreign Service.